Cooking up a Lorentz invariant Lagrangian

Let’s consider a scalar field, say temperature of a rod varying with time i.e $T(x,t)$ . (something like the following)

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We will take this setup and put it on a really fast train moving at a constant velocity $v$ (also known as performing a ‘Lorentz boost’).

train-animated-gif-3

Now the temperature of the bar in this new frame of reference is given by $T^{'}(x^{'}, t^{'})$ where,

$x^{'}(x,t) = \gamma \left( x - vt \right)$

$t^{'}(x,t) = \gamma \left( t - \frac{v x}{c^{2}} \right)$

Visualizing the temperature distribution of the rod under a Length contraction.

Temperature is a scalar field and therefore irrespective of which frame of reference you are on, the temperature at each point on the rod will remain the same on both the frames i.e

$T^{'}(x^{'}, t^{'})= T(x, t)$

Therefore we can say that Temperature (a scalar field) is Lorentz invariant. Now what other quantities can we make from T that would also be Lorentz invariant ?

Is $\nabla . T^{'}(x^{'}, t^{'})= \nabla . T(x, t) ?$

Well, let’s give it a try:

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial x} = \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} \frac{\partial x^{'}}{\partial x} + \frac{\partial T}{\partial t^{'}} \frac{\partial t^{'}}{\partial x}$

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial x} = \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} \gamma - \frac{\partial T}{\partial t^{'}} \gamma v$

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial x} = \gamma \left( \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} - \frac{\partial T}{\partial t^{'}} v \right)$

——–

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial t} = \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} \frac{\partial x^{'}}{\partial t} + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \frac{\partial t^{'}}{\partial t}$

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial t} = - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} \gamma v + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \gamma$

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial t} = \gamma \left( - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} v + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \right)$

Clearly, **

$\frac{\partial T}{\partial x} + \frac{\partial T}{\partial t} \neq \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}}$

But just for fun let’s just square the terms and see if we can churn something out of that:

$\left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial x} \right)^{2} = \gamma^{2} \left( \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} v \right)^{2}$

$\left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial t} \right)^{2} = \gamma^{2} \left( - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} v + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \right) ^{2}$

We immediately notice that:

$\left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial t} \right)^{2} - \left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial x} \right)^{2} = \gamma^{2} \left[ \left( - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} v + \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \right) ^{2} - \left( \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} - \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} v \right)^{2} \right]$

$\left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial t} \right)^{2} - \left( \frac{\partial T}{\partial x} \right)^{2} = \left( \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial t^{'}} \right)^{2} - \left( \frac{\partial T^{'}}{\partial x^{'}} \right)^{2}$

Therefore in addition to realizing that $T$ is Lorentz invariant, we have also found another quantity that is also Lorentz invariant. This quantity is also written as $\partial_{\mu} T \partial^{\mu} T$ .

** There is a very important reason why this quantity did not work out. This post was inspired in part by Micheal Brown’s answer on stackexchange . I request the interested reader to check that post for a detailed explanation.

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